Best Mother's Day Gifts For The Cyclist On Your List

Nutcase offers lots of different designs across their collections and recently introduced helmets with MIPS.Nutcase

Whether she’s your mother, wife, partner, sister or friend, if she loves to bike or just enjoys tooling around town on her cruiser, here are some great Mother’s Day gifts that she’ll love.

Better Cycling Sunglasses

Adidas Sport Eyewear has a couple of great advanced lens technologies that they’ve just combined to bring a new level of performance to their sunglasses, including those for cyclists. LST (Light Stabilizing Technology) improves color perception and high-contrast vision, ideal for sports that move quickly in and out of shaded areas, as in mountain biking, which has always been problematic in terms of sunglass performance. More recently, Adidas developed its Vario Tuned lenses - basically faster reacting photochromatic lenses that lighten or darken based on conditions and can automatically change from crystal clear to a dark tint within seconds. Again, this is ideal for mountain biking but now that Adidas has combined the two technologies for the best of both worlds, these are great for all cyclists. I don’t like to carry extra gear when I ride, even another pair of glasses, so why not go with ones that will work equally well on cloudy days when you just need wind protection for your eyes on road rides, on sunny days, and on the many rides with changeable weather or post-work rides that start in bright light but end in dusk. The new Zonyk Aero Midcut Pro is a trimmed down version of the Zonyk Aero Pro and either would work well for cyclists or runners (especially trail runners). They’re unisex, but available in both small and large/regular and include two different sized nose pad pieces. Each model offers various frame colors and lens technologies and colors, including the LST and Vario Tuned combination for $209. Mountain bikers may want to consider the Evil Eye Evil Pro, with wrap-around protection, also available in two sizes and multiple combinations, including LST and Vario combined for $249.

If you’ve wanted to say “cool helmet” to someone tooling around town or commuting on their bike, there’s a good chance they were wearing a Nutcase helmet. If she’s a serious road, mountain or other cyclist, she probably has a high-performance aerodynamic, possibly very expensive helmet, but may want something a bit more laid-back for more laid-back riding. If casual cycling or easy bike commuting is more her thing, she likely doesn’t want a bike-geek helmet. But she should always wear one however or wherever she rides, and a good way to insure this will happen is to have a great looking and comfortable lid, and of, course, it should be safe. Nutcase is based in cycling-friendly Portland, Oregon and offers four collections of cycling helmets for adults with many different colors and designs. It also has helmets for kids and babies, with cool designs of their own and some that match with adults, if you want to look too cute when out with the kids. The adult Street ($70) and Metroride ($80) collections offer the most variety of fun designs. A few helmets within the Metroride collection, which offers the most ventilation, are also offered with MIPS (Multi-Directional Impact Protection System), an important optional safety technology, for $105. MIPS will be available in other helmets, including Street ($95) by this Friday. I wrote about the importance of MIPS brain protection system in women’s cycling helmets here.

After years of riding in regular women’s bicycle shorts, without bibs, I tried a few different brands last year and have seen the light. I never thought waistbands on bike shorts were a problem, but once you don’t have one at all, you notice how nice that is. The big issue for women with bibs is bathroom breaks. No one wants to have to take off their jersey for a quick pee. A number of brands have introduced “drop tail” options using different design features. Last year, I tried several new models and liked the Pearl Izumi P.R.O. Escape bib shorts on many fronts, except for one big thing, a clasp in the back to undo the strap that was placed in a hard to reach spot. I’d like to think that they listened to my complaint; they probably didn’t, but the shorts have been redesigned this year without the clasp! There are now two straps that meet at the lower back, with enough stretch that the shorts can be pulled down once she’s in a squatting position. P.R.O is Pearl Izumi’s top-level line, and they are made with high performance fabric and chamois, minimal seams, silicone leg grippers and still have a neat clip in the front to pull the straps together in a more flattering and comfortable position.; the new P.R.O. Escape bib shorts are $170.

Jewelry made with up-cycled bicycle tubes.Alixandra Barron Designs

Jewelry Made from Bicycle Tubes

You can get her jewelry for Mother’s Day and still celebrate her love of cycling, plus get extra points for a “green” gift. Alix Barron Klein designs and creates jewelry from reclaimed bicycle inner tubes. She crafts earrings, bracelets and a couple of necklaces with both linear and curved abstract, intricate designs, and has recently even added a bicycle shape to the mix. The pieces are very pretty, but rugged, and can be worn biking, swimming, doing yoga, or out to dinner. Or brunch - I hope you’ve made reservations!

As The Gear Diva, women's fitness, fun & fashion are my beat. I bike, hike, surf, ski, dive, raft, safari & do yoga. I use the best gear & I’ll make sure you do too! I tweet @TheGearDiva

I'm The Gear Diva and women's fitness, fun and fashion are important to me. I've pedaled thousands of miles, hiked to over 18,000 feet, surfed, dove, white water rafted, enjoyed safaris, practiced yoga for years, and skied with World Cup racers. I may not always keep up, bu...